Today, I was talking to a friend who sells military equipment and memorabilia. He told me that his grandfather has a Hitler Nazi youth sword, which he brought home from Germany as a souvenir of his experience fighting there in the U.S. Army against the Nazis. I told my friend that those days are over. That’s because, these days, if you find anything–if you take any spoil of victory, any souvenir–our government, specifically the arm that is supposed to be enforcing immigration laws but isn’t, will make sure it goes after you, takes your souvenirs, probably prosecutes you, and then does a photo op with some smiling Muslim official taking it back. It used to be that souvenirs were the tiny perk of risking your life for America. No more.

Imagine, you are a soldier sent to risk your life and limb to hand over a Muslim country from one sect of Muslims who hate us (Sunnis) to another sect of Muslims who hate us (Shi’ites). And while you’re there, you happen upon Saddam Hussein’s sword. But you don’t just take it, because you might get in trouble. So, instead, you make sure you’ve secured permission from your commanding officers and the American authorities, who give you the okay. But, once back in the States, ICE agents–not allowed to enforce immigration laws and with little aim or mission for their agency–are busy scouring auction house listings looking for souvenirs they can repossess for Muslim and Communist governments who are the enemy (whether we admit it or not). The ICE agents order the auction house to cancel the auction for the sword, and they phone the Iraqi Embassy, asking to schedule a photo op for a top Homeland Security official to smile for cameras and show a country full of America-hating Hajjis that we are bending over for them . . . yet again.

Now, it’s ICE’s Director of Investigations (or as it’s now been branded, HSI–Homeland Security Investigations), James Dinkins, posing smilingly with Saddam Hussein’s sword and the Iraqi Ambassador to the U.S. Longtime readers know that I am friendly with and like Detroit-area native Jim Dinkins, who is a mensch and a good guy. And I know that Jim doesn’t set ICE policy (or lack thereof). It’s above his paygrade. But the picture he’s in, above, is silly. And it’s more than that. It’s a disgrace.

American soldiers who go to a war zone and risk their lives should get to keep the souvenirs they find. They paid for it in blood. And they saw some of their friends come home in body bags. Does any Muslim country have its law enforcement busying itself with returning American property? Just ask those scumbags who nationalized the American oil wells in Saudi Arabia. Or all those countries who won’t even return America’s kids who are kidnapped by Muslim parents. It’s not a two-way street. It’s a one-way dead end of Islamopandering.

ICE calls the sword, “cultural property,” though anyone with any intellectual honesty would be hard-pressed to call a swarm of savages, a “culture.” This “culture” isn’t busy listening to Chopin or Brahms and sipping chablis (or even watching the Kardashians). It’s making IEDs and continuing to blow up its people.

If we’re not going to enforce immigration and customs laws, then there is no point in even having an ICE. Our government should not be wasting it’s time “keeping America safe” from Saddam Hussein’s sword or some Arabian Peninsula coins long buried beneath the sea.

Taking these items from Americans who risked everything to get them is not something to be proud of. It’s a sign of weakness. And it’s embarrassing. And it’s a waste of your money.

The Muslim world is laughing at us every time we do something like this.

ICE’s official press release:

A ceremonial sword, looted in 2003 from Saddam Hussein’s personal office in Baghdad, was returned to the Republic of Iraq Monday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The sword, which had been smuggled into the United States by U.S. military personnel, was repatriated at a private ceremony held at Iraqi Ambassador Lukman Faily’s residence in Washington.

“Cultural property – such as the sword being returned today to the people of Iraq – represents part of a country’s history that should have never been stolen or auctioned,” said HSI Associate Director James Dinkins. “We will continue conducting these types of investigations to ensure that current and future generations aren’t robbed of their nation’s history.” . . .

The sword is a 43-inch embellished blade and sheath with gold inlaid Arabic writing along the edge of the blade that declares it to be a gift to Saddam Hussein. It was sold in October 2011 to the Amoskeag Auction Company (AAC) in Manchester, N.H., and advertised in their Jan. 7, 2012, auction catalogue as having been removed from Hussein’s personal office in the Iraqi military command complex in Baghdad by the U.S. Army 126th Military History Detachment after the regime fell in 2003. The catalog also said that the consignor was attached to the unit as a combat historian, that the sword was not claimed by the U.S. government and that the consignor was granted permission to keep the sword as a souvenir.

In January 2012, HSI special agents in Manchester learned that it was being auctioned and initiated an investigation.

Although the sword was sold at auction for $15,000 by AAC Jan. 7, 2012, the sale had not been consummated by an exchange of money and the object had not yet been shipped to the purchaser by AAC. On Jan. 9, 2012, HSI special agents seized the sword as a possible Iraqi cultural artifact.

HSI special agents coordinated with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) regarding the validity of the sword’s importation into the United States and the regulations surrounding the importation of war trophies from Iraq. It was determined that this ornate ceremonial sword cannot be considered a modern battlefield weapon and is therefore not eligible to be exported as a war trophy.

Additionally, the import of this historic sword was prohibited by DOD’s Office of Foreign Assets Control pursuant to an executive order which prohibits trade or transfer of Iraqi cultural property.

On April 30, 2012, the sword was administratively forfeited. In 2008, 2010 and 2011, ICE repatriated to the government of Iraq a collection of cultural objects including Saddam Hussein-era paintings, AK-47 rifles, ancient tablets, clay statues, ancient gold earrings, coins, a Western Asiatic necklace and terra cotta cones, all illegally imported into the United States from Iraq.

Homeland Security . . . we keep you safe from the ghost of Saddam Hussein’s sword. Interlopers and invaders on U.S. soil? Fuggedaboutit.

Well that’s not very nice. Fine to make fun of me and the photo, as a public official it comes with the position. But the men and women of HSI have set a record number of criminal arrests every year since I have had the pleasure of serving as their Director. In the past two years alone they have had an increase of 25% in criminal arrests, and since FY09 have had a 300% increase in currency and monetary instrument seizures. So to say they are not enforcing immigration and customs laws is just wrong. They are dedicated professionals often risking their lives to protect our communities and nation. I do like the “mensch” reference.

61 Responses

I think that along w/ the sword, ICE – along w/ all its personnel – should also be handed over to Iraq & Saudi Arabia. Tell them that they’ll keep their borders safe.

Iraq would probably love to employ them on their borders w/ Iran & Syria, while the Saudis could put them on their borders w/ Kuwait, Qatar and the Emirates, where they don’t mind immigrants (they only mind it from poorer neighbors, like Yemen or Jordan or Oman)

Another “Bizarro World” outrage. All part of the slow & steady decline of the USA.

It’s all around and happening daily. I hope those with brains are noticing. If you’re one of the excuse-makers or equivocators you’re a fool. A parallel is that all that comes out of Obama-Putin’s mouth (telepromter supported) is a lie and one should know by now to note and acknowledge that.

I’ll wonder what savage side will keep it when they finally go full-out civil war…the Sunnis or the Shi’ites????

It is a bizarre waste of time. Genuine articles from antiquity are looted from various places for illicit sale. More often than not, the perpetrators are rarely pursued or caught. In this case, we are dealing with a recent dictator’s sword. This is not an historic artifact, but a novelty item.

When HSI is doing things like this, it is just more evidence that the agency really has no mission. HSI has also seized and “returned” items that were legally purchased, exported from the item’s home country, and imported into the United States (for example, a classic 1919 Turcat-Mery automobile from France).

Dinkins has a duty to enforce the laws that his agency is charged with, and not using selective enforcement on behalf of the current administration for political expediency. And that is why the agency is doing nothing substantial. Let’s not forget Dinkins’ Customs Service nickname: “Dumb-kins.”

“It used to be that souvenirs were the tiny perk of risking your life for America.”

Debbie, I believe at the end of WWII (and I’ve studied WWII history full in detail), some of our servicemen who fought overseas in Europe against the Nazi’s and other Axis-of-Evil, whenever they killed the Nazis and the diehard Nazis who became the “Werewolves” in which they referred to themselves that some of our soldiers had gifts and of body parts of dead Nazi’s, by them being mutilated and so forth.

Its a disgrace that our servicemen who fought in Iraq can’t get a sword or swords that Saddam Hussein once owned when he was the dictator/leader of Iraq for many years, but instead the government and politicians get the souvenirs and sending them back to the nation that our soldiers fought?

When I served in the old Republic of Viet Nam, I retrieved a metal punji stake from a booby trap, which I currently display on the wall of my room, along with the “WAR TROPHY REGISTRATION/AUTHORIZATION” certificate signed by my commanding officer.

Here is the URL where you can see a photograph of the metal punji stake mounted on the wall of my room:

Other guys also had war trophies, but when leaving the old Republic of Viet Nam, their war trophies were seized by the Military Police because they failed to complete the necessary forms entitling them to bring their trophies back to the United States of America.

Here in Gulfport, Mississippi, I was talking to a couple of Seabees from the local Navy base who were fixing to deploy, and they were telling me that they weren’t permitted to bring war trophies back from Afghanistan, that they weren’t even allowed to pick up anything like that, because of the danger that it might be booby trapped.

In retrospect, if the brutal truth be known, what I did, in retrieving that metal punji stake from that booby trap, was incredibly stupid, and could easily have gotten me and my fellow troopers killed.

But, I was lucky, and somehow, I survived being an idiot during a combat perimeter patrol in a war zone.

Thank you.

John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507

I am a nearly 7 year ICE employee (ERO) and I am absolutely speechless by some of the things that go on. I am actually not too sure ICE will have a “mission” in the near future at all. I fear the U.S. Government will simply “give up” by default and just not enforce immigration law much anymore (not that we do much already) and we will simply be offered a job standing around at the airport or seaport or the “Border” with a handgun and a badge to look good. All the others will be offered a job “processing” all the “asylum” or “amnesty” cases. I really don’t know how I’m gonna keep going with ICE for another 15 years or so and I really think we (government) are simply going to all together slow down and then stop immigration enforcement and “move on” to something (who knows) else? I’m really at a loss, I don’t know what the hell we’re (in ERO) are gonna do. We don’t have the “authority” of the “Special Agents” to go play Indiana Jones or wannabe FBI or wannabe DEA Agent so what are we gonna do? Anyone got any ideas?

Could you have found an example more recent than 69 A.D.? Also, did you pledge your body, blood, and and soul to Saddam in 2003? Actually, with Saddam firing his Scud missiles into Israel in 1991, the Israelis would have been more than justified in attacking Iraq. Finally, let’s ask who really did the serious looting in Iraq? Iraqis. You antisemitic comparison is as flat as your intelligence.

Oh look, it’s Stormfront’s favorite demented sheep, stevebaaaaaaa. Yes, modern soldiers never, ever take souvenirs. Except they do indeed, and there is a procedure for doing so. The sheep’s just mad because his daddy’s collection of valued Nazi souvenirs from WW2 were seized.

“Yes, modern soldiers never, ever take souvenirs. Except they do indeed, and there is a procedure for doing so.”
________________________________

Yes, there certainly IS a procedure for retaining war trophies, for I used it for my souvenir metal punji stake that I got from a booby trap while on a perimeter patrol in the old Republic of Viet Nam.

Today, that war trophy, and the certificate authorizing me to bring it back to the United States of America, are prominently displayed on the wall of my room.

On the other hand, there were guys in my same unit in the old Republic of Viet Nam who were unable to keep their war trophies, ONLY because they failed to observe the designated procedure and obtain the proper paperwork authorizing it.

Thank you.

John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507

That’s absolutely disgusting
There going to look pretty stupid when they all get here and start bombing buildings.
Obamas people will be so proud,to think they are responsible for all the deaths.I can’t believe some agencies let that go on There all american and throwing it all down the drain for ??? bribes???
They’ll be sorry,when it hit’s there family and it surly will one way or another.

I have asked my wife why guys that I worked with and for would go along with the stupidity that goes on at H.Q. She said you can’t change the system if you’re not in charge. I know some of my former bosses did buck the system during the changeover from Customs to ICE and had a voice during the Forman reign of terror. My sense of right versus wrong would not allow me to sell out and take the verbal abuse she dished out regularly. After that it just seemed that a lot of know-nothings got put in positions of power, yes men. And now you have the neutered agency that is HSI.

Following this “logic” is ICE going to start going to memorabilia shows and rounding up Nazi daggers and Japanese samurai swords from WWII and sending them back to their country of origin?

On a sad but slightly funny note, a worked with a WWII vet that sneaked back to a battlefield after the battle to collect souvenirs. But he got caught, by the Japanese.
He then spend the rest of the war in a POW camp.
I would not have believed him, because the story sounded so phoney, but he had a scar all the way up both of his thumbs from being bamboo tortured while in the camp. Those scars you can’t fake.

Does anyone think that if the Smithsonian recovered that sword, it would be required to return it? Did Indiana Jones ever return anything he recovered? How about a Foreign Dignitary who transported it in a Diplomatic Pouch? And, wasn’t Saddam Husein an enemy combatant and for all appearances, it was his sword, wasn’t it? But, he lost it.

For those wishing to do further research: 19CFR and HTSUS are full of rules, regulations, Tariff Rates, etc.

Since my dad’s passing, I have advised the family to never, ever, dispose of any of his uniforms, war photos, papers, medals, and other memorabilia. Those items are History.

The way things are developing with HIS MAGNIFICENCE’s policies and disrespect of the Military, I am wondering when all Military Antiques, Collectibles, and Memorabilia will be confiscated. Hmmm, I could just be paranoid — OR NOT!

“In the past two years alone they have had an increase of 25% in criminal arrests”

Erm, an increase relative to what, historically? And what was the composition of the arrestees and what crimes were they suspected of?

Given the environment of the constant threat of terror, immigration abuse and selective prosecution, if Dinkins can pose with some Iraqi stuffed shirt and just one agent can afford the time to be assigned to track down Hussein’s (the Iraqi Hussein, not ours) sword from ebay at taxpayer’s expense, it’s a flagrant waste and a slap in the face to all of us who expect and deserve a relatively safe society in which to live and raise our families.

Debbie: When are you going to do an article on the new ICE interim leadership? There have been a few changes, most notably “girlie man” Morton’s departure and the entrance of the interim director, John Sandweg, who I believe has a total of 4 years government experience as a gofer. Also, lots a rumors flying about big sis’ replacement, what have you heard?

A friend from WWII was able to get a samurai sword back to the US by wrapping it up around his leg and pretending that he had a broken leg and the sword was a piece of wood being used as a splint. Once he got it safely on his ship he was able to mail it home.
The officers were confiscating souvenirs that the enlisted men brought back to the ships. They said it was against regulations to get souvenirs. Of course the officers would then keep the spoils for themselves.

Dinkens, Moron (Morton), et al, should all be thrown in jail for traitorous actions by selling our country out to illegal aliens and cow-towing to islam and their muslin cronies. Dinkens has handcuffed ICE agents from doing any immigration work. Our country is being lost and run on PC by liberals. Not one of these cowards has the balls to stand up to lesbian Napolitano, Morton, or Obama and refuse orders to sell out America. Neither he, nor any one of these cronies, could carry the jock-strap of the true men and women heroes who are fighting a daily war against tyranny. My ancestors would hunt these bastards down and hang them from a tree. They are all misfits and traitors. ICE is filled with cowards, hacks and whore traitors. May you all rot in hell. There IS a Judgment Day.

If you read between the lines of Dinkins memo you will see that a vast majority, if not all, of the “criminal” arrests he claims that HSI agents have made are BS immigration “violations”, maybe some re-entrys, but mostly just picking up “wets” that another PD has arrested and processing them for deportation.

You notice he (Dinkins) doesn’t say a “record number of criminal investigations” that led to arrests.

One major currency seizure by CBP at the border since FY 2009 can account for the “300%” increase that he also claims.

The sad fact is that 99 & 9/10 % of HSI “agents” are at their desks, surfing the internet from the comfort and safety of their climate controlled cubicle, afraid to hit the streets and pro-actively initiate real criminal investigations. The few that do their jobs are usually ostracized because they make everyone work on surveillances, and also make the G/S look bad because most of them have never done a criminal investigation. The G/S resents that fact, and starts to bully the working agent. The G/S lets one of their Clown minions spin their wheels on a BS investigation that is really administrative in nature, and goes nowhere fast, for a prolonged period of time, then rewards that Clown.

HSI continues to be the agency that no criminal, U.S. Citizen or illegal alien, needs to fear, and that is a direct result of the Clownism that has been allowed to flourish.

Dinkins’ response is meaningless, just spouting raw arrest percentages and seizures (some of which I are probably illegal in their own right). Without actual data that can be analyzed and legal results of the arrest and seizures — a empty statement.

Debbie
I have been a reader for a long time and now feel compelled to write. I retired from ICE on 5/31/2013 after 25 years. The first 15 with the INS Office of Investigations and the last 10 with ICE. I spent a total of 20 years as a Special Agent and the last 5 as an ERO HQ Officer. In 2003 when the creation of DHS was announced I was one of about 65 INS agents nationwide that were GS 13 Senior Special Agents assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorist Tasf Force, so when the question is asked if I was promoted because of the merger and rode on any other agency’s coattails, the answer is a resounding NO. When the INS and Customs merger was announced, I for one was excited because that we in the field would have more help in trying to stem the tide of illegal aliens overrunning this country. Before the merge could be fully put in place I was transferred to a small RAC office in the SAC Atlanta AOR as an OCDETF Agent. When the person in chage of my new office, when he wasn’t borrowing M-4’s for his sons Boy Scout troop to shoot, his favorite hobby was bashing the people that he inherited from INS. So you can imagine my excitement in the new merge quickly disappeared. Now don’t get me wrong, I can say this, some of the legacy Customs agents that I worked with we’re some of the finest officers that it was my pleasure to have worked with and I worked with everyone from the NYPD, FBI, DEA and on and on. I found that the worst attitudes concerning the merger came from the higher ups who did not or could not realize that they had a workforce with a wide range of skills and failed to use them in the best way as to serve the American taxpayers, who lets face it, payed us.
I left the then ICE Office of Investigations for ERO because I felt that my talents and love of immigration enforcement would be better served. Oh how wrong I was in this belief. I now realize that Immigration enforcement can only be fulfilled by an agency that has the will and the political backing to do it and ICE has neither of them. Towards the end of my career I began to tell people that the agency and the country would be better served if DHS was disbanded and everything went back to per 9-11 days. The bottom line is that I and every other officer who worked for INS and Customs did not ask for the merge. It was forced upon us. ICE as a whole has failed miserably to enforce the immigration law in the US and I can’t help but feel that part of this failure can be laid at the feet of a management, who came mostly from the Customs side of the house. As far a prior posting stated about criminal arrests and investigations, not every case case should be a T3 case. My belief is that T3’s are expensive and labor intensive and should used as an absolute last resort. As I stated to the idiot that ran my office and bad mouthed one half his work force “I can get shot just as dead serving an admin warrant as I can a criminal warrant”. some people just don’t get it. I beg all the readers and officers who read your site, please stop the legacy agency BS, this crap is ten years old already. Let it go. Get the real problem in focus, a multi billion agency who does a crappy job of enforcing all it’s priorities under its jurisdiction.

Sorry, Recently, but MOST folks in charge during the merger were the from INS. Remember Michael Garcia? He picked his people, his admin, his INS systems to be the primary choices, so your little shot at Customs mgmt., while saying to stop the legacy this and that rings hollow. I will say that what I did notice during my stay at HQ was that initially, Customs guys were at the forefront because they had the majority of financial investigation experience. BUT, a few years later, the former INS guys ran the place, hell Border Patrol ran ICE out of the Reagan building. So much for being a lead LE agency.

A T-3 case is a wiretap.

ICE NO MORE, I retired 3.5 yrs. ago and miss the guys, but hate the mgmt. and lack of leadership, mission.

Who are these INS people you are referring to? By December 2003, the Director of Investigations was John Clark (Customs), the Deputy Assistant Director for Division 1 (Strategic and National Security) was Gary Lang (Customs), the DAD for Division 2 (Financial) was Marcy Forman (Customs), the DAD for Division 3 (Human Smuggling, Gangs, etc.) was John Torres (INS), and the DAD for Division 4 (Support) was Customs. Also the Directors of Intelligence and International Affairs were Customs. Only 5 of the SACS at the time were INS, the remainder Customs. Clark would be followed as Director of Investigations by Forman. The only blip in this pattern was Torres, who later became one of two Deputies to Julie Myers. Garcia did employ Mike Dougherty (INS) for a short time as some sort of Deputy, however the vast majority of senior 1811 leadership positions were held by Legacy Customs people.

Yes Legend, the initial DADs were Customs guys because Garcia and Dumbass Dougherty did not know shit about the kind of work that most of the new agency, ICE, was going to be doing at THAT time. Dougherty got so flustered by his being told how stupid he was, he banned some DADs from the CAB when he, Dougherty, was there. When I left H.Q., the UC ops were being turned into human trafficking ops, as in let’s bring in hundreds of illegals so we can get the kingpins. How to track those illegals? Gee, I dunno. Oh well.

It was a horrible time being there then. SACs showing their pee pees to young girls in food courts, chief-of-staff who, in the minds of most there, was a nut job. These were Customs guys, but they were just like most of the other “up and coming” managers. Then the final days of a law enforcement agency’s existence. Myers, Morton, Napalitano, and list goes on of hangers-on that just went along with the destruction of ICE as a LE agency to appease his majesty. Retirement is great.

I’ve only been with ICE for 6 years so I don’t have the INS vs. Customs mentality but I do know we have a LOT of characters in this agency! I’m sure our next “Director” and the next “Secretary” will be very, very, very interesting people who won’t have anything to do with law enforcement. Not much at ICE has ANYTHING to do with Law Enforcement at all in my opinion. Just doing computer checks, placing Immigration “detainers” on people someone else actually arrested, bickering over b.s., writing each other up on “personnel investigations”, arguing over who said and who did what, and making sure everyone does their “training” by “virtual” “university”. It’s kind of a joke but 99% of the employees are doing their best and WOULD go out and Enforce Immigration Law if we wouldn’t be arrested or fired for doing it. ICE…….fun place to work!

Señor Munny
As pointed out above, at the HQ level, most of the folks came from one side but as I stated before, I was there from the start so I know. There are 26 SAC offices if memory serves and when the permanent SAC’s were in chosen in 04 or 05′ 25 of the 26 were from one side of the house(not mine). As far as Mike Garcia and Mike Dougherty are concerned, one can can say a bad thing about them to me because they removed three of the biggest pieces of human garbage that ever existed in NYC, Newark and Miami and HQ if memory serves. As stated by a dear friend of mine at an all hands meeting” ICE has plenty of managers, but no leaders. The ICE supervisory ranks have not the respect of the troops to be called leaders”. As far as stated above by the gentleman from LA, may I ask what is a personnel investigation? I am assuming that this is referring fellow employees to OPR for shits and giggles. Again, this is foreign to me because as bad as some of the people I have worked with over the last quarter century in NYC, CLT and HQ were, no one ever did this to anybody except the the idiot who as I stated borrowed the M4’s for the boy scouts. As far as putting myself in harms way, as another dear friend stated the “all the times we ended up in some of the worst areas in New York, it is amazing we never let rounds go”. I consider myself lucky for this. I can state that having worked cases from both sides of the house, legacy INS and Customs, they both are fantastic and definitely do require differing sets of skills that not everyone has. This again plays to a management that does not play to its employees strengths. I often see people mention complex investigations of this web site. Can we get past this also. Again as stated before, not all cases should end up in a wire tap. As a gentleman who I met stated “If you are doing a wiretap, you are cheating”. I believe this man was responsible for over 80 people going to jail in a drug case and I believe he won agent of the year in the SAC office where he worked. He is retired now. Damn shame. A man like this could have been a great teacher to the 80% of Investigations personnel that been hired since 2003.

I know a former Customs/ICE agent cut from the same cloth as your friend, jailed too many crooks to count. Got so frustrated with HSI (ICE) that he went to work for a real law enforcement agency…FDA. Can anyone blame him?

In my professional opinion it seems that some are still confused about what is the mission of ICE/HSI, and that’s ok because the jury is still out on that.
Let me be perfectly clear, INS was a fucked up agency way before the merger, and Customs was full of assholes way before the merger but did its job as far as criminal investigations; it was a functioning agency. INS was a dysfunctional agency that is why Congress had its sights on dismantling it way before the merger.

GS-13 was not the “journeyman” grade at INS, there may have been “65 Senior Special Agents nationwide” but in no way, shape or form did that mean that the regular field agent was going to get a GS-13. GS-13 at Customs at one time meant something, a level of expertise, it was a merit promotion at one time, before it became journeyman grade because of the high level of work that agents were doing. That was not the case at INS, where it was a “numbers” game, mass raids and busloads of deportations=mission accomplished. Interesting how an INS agent could go from one job to another and never go to another academy; that’s because the training emphasis was on removals/adjudications and not on criminal investigations.

The most qualified to run the agency (ICE/HSI) were the former Customs agents; Customs had better trained and experienced personnel. Perhaps not in INS processing, but then INS had already done a pretty outstanding job of fucking that up anyways.

And INS agents had a union, that is why they were all gone at 3pm everyday and never available for after hours or weekend work. And they all rode the coattails of Customs in getting their upgrades in GS levels without doing any of the heavy work; hell there are ASACs, former INS, right now that NEVER conducted a criminal investigation.

So, a definitive YES, ICE/HSI should be about CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS, that includes T-III’s, that is the job title and description, read it, study it, embrace it!
It’s not about podunk, shit kicker wearing, wet-busting,nuca-roja, cactus copulating, softball playing, ass-kissing of the GS, coyote shit tracking, afraid to go out of the office because “they” might think you a cop, BS.

MF, I was one of the last GS-12’s to get promoted via the merit system. And you see what you get when you make it journeyman….Then Customs and INS got to 13 by doing nothing. I don’t know how they can go to work and play on the computer, draw a $100,000 salary and look at themselves in the mirror. Hardest decision those kinds of agents make all day is where to eat lunch.

Mr Jones
When you speak about ass kissing of the GS and afraid to go out of the office you sound like a man of considerable experience in these areas. I can also speak of a USCS D SAC who was overheard by me saying that “I have never testified before a grand jury” so don’t get all high and mighty with regards to people with ZERO experience being promoted. The govt as a whole is full of them, so embrace it. It is reality. As far as I was concerned, a believe one year in your almighty TECS system, which being EX INS was ok but needs to be updated, my LEAP hours hit 1300. I am sure there were lazy people in both agencies, don’t you agree. And as far as the union went, GS 13’s were excluded.

Recently retarded from ICE, and you sound like one of the numerous morons that dared call themselves “special agents” you all weren’t special and were only “agents” of the most screwed up and dysfunctional bureaucracy ever: INS. The only reason ICE/HSI is in its current state of decay, dysfunctionality, ineptitude, and full of incompetent clowns from top to bottom, is because that is what INS brought to the table. Customs was perfectly fine before it inherited the bastard stepchild known as INS, and all of the INS clowns enjoyed major pay grade increases because of the merger, and they are all walking around the safe and climate controlled office looking to get that GS-14 and above pay; you never hear them talking about informants or criminal investigations, just about processing someone for deportation, which is what ERO/DRO, or whatever, does on a daily basis, in truth they (ERO) are the ones doing all the work for a lot less pay. There are literally thousands of agents sitting around with nothing to do but turn on each other; gossiping, backstabbing, kissing GS ass, all in an attempt to ingratiate themselves with management.
So, glad to hear you retarded, so what you doing now with all of your bullshit INS “experience”?

ICE was modeled after INS. While it is true that the top management was for the most part legacy Customs personnel, ICE’s management structure, administrative systems, standards, processes, etc., were based upon the INS.

The legacy Customs managers that took over at ICE essentially sold their souls for a few bits of gold—given promotions, increases in pay, and huge bonuses to buy their silence about what was being done to the Customs Service and its personnel. Does anyone remember the infamous memo from John Clark telling Customs personnel to shut up about their dissatisfaction about what was being done to the agency or resign?

Overall, the legacy INS employees benefited the most—wholesale grade increases (in addition, there were 14 GS-12 Special Agents in Houston that were promoted to GS-14 Group Supervisors overnight), one-for-one competitive promotions which benefited the legacy INS agents as there were less of them than Customs agents, people were even allowed to convert on-the-spot to the GS-1811 (Special Agent/Criminal Investigator) position (some with no prior law enforcement training) so that they could take advantage of the opportunities available for the INS personnel.

Customs personnel were hired under an extremely competitive system with higher standards than either INS or ICE, and now those legacy employees work in an agency were they are considered pariahs because they are a constant reminder about just how low the bar was lowered in the creation of ICE.

To skzion, sorry, we old school types are protective and also ashamed of what our agencies have become.

If “CAB” confused you, it means Chester Arthur Bldg., the former INS H.Q., and, at my time, the ICE H.Q. In the hood, rat infested, bullet holes galore. SACs should be familiar since D.S. has slammed several Special Agents in Charge in numerous past posts.

“Recently Retired from ICE” Yeah, sadly, everyone around where I work is VERY quick to “drop a dime” (or “drop” an email) to their Supervisor, OPR, OIG, or EEO. I know of several agents (just in my small office) who are currently “under investigation” because someone made an inquiry to OIG, OPR or whoever. All of it is over petty, stupid stuff like “I feel harassed”, “I feel disrespected”, “I work in a hostile environment” or get this, “I feel threatened”. You work in Law Enforcement and you are saying you are scared? Scared of what? “Scared to work here because people are mean and may become violent”. Seriously, that was the reason an Agent I know is “investigated” (Gun, Badge and Creds taken away). All because of someones email. Also, supposedly “HARD”, “Ex-Military” and “Super Macho” Agents filing complaints because they feel discriminated against, don’t like how people “talk about them” etc, etc. ICE has NO PSYCH exam and a lot of our “Veteran to ICE” guys (and gals) IMHO are PTSD cases waiting to explode (some have). God bless our veterans but that is why most LEA’s have PSYCH EXAMS! ICE, ahhhhh, why bother?

Mr Jones
Wow , what a considerable tirade. Seems like you were one of those true believers with 1789 tattooed some where on your private parts. I like so few others have chosen to change careers after leaving the federal govt. I never believed that my job title defined who I was. You obviously can’t say the same so I kind if pity you. Do you often think about how great it was prior to the merge? Sir or Ms., I tend to think the later of the two, you are a pathetic creature and are one of what I used to refer as govt clowns. Maybe the g is so bad as a whole because of walking cancers such as yourself. Just a thought there eh bro.

Mr. Jones
As proven by your last post, it is obvious that english must be a second language to you so I will state once again, my GS 13 came in 1998, a full five years before your precious agency was folded into the present disaster known as DHS. On this fact we are in total agreement, DHS is a failure of epic proportions. . As you can see the abolition of both yours and my previous agencies did nothing for me grade wise. After 25 years I can honestly say I’m doing nothing for the time being. I think it was earned by dealing with clowns and miscreants such as yourself and when I do decide on a second career, I will drop you a line so make sure you can get it translated and have someone read it to you. Might make interesting conversation as opposed to how many BS T3 cases You worked. That and a black hat will make you first for barista of the year at your local Starbucks.